Class 1 - Max Ernst

Max Ernst's "Thursday" puts a comical visual, the rooster, into positions of dark and dramatic imagery. He might be telling us to not take life so seriously.

On the first page, the rooster is ignorant of any threat the peasant woman dressed in black might present, a humble presence in the shadow of an overdramatic person. The rooster just wants the seeds.

By the second page is watching a man dressed as a rooster towering over an unconscious or deceased woman, kind of inconspicuous compared to the really dramatic furniture and reminding us that this isn't really a big deal.

On the third page the rooster kind of wants to be a part of the drama but not really, just like people who read Facebook comment arguments.

I'm pretty sure there's a regular rooster somewhere on the fourth page, but I can't find it. I think the men are jealous of the rooster's nonchalant attitude and are trying to channel that by becoming roosters.

On the fifth page, the roosters just happened to be in the room when a woman was murdered and her husband blames the roosters, but they're just kinda chilling not worrying because they're confident in their innocence.

The sixth page shows a dramatically posed couple while the rooster only watches from the background, probably mocking their negative emotions and wondering why humans take themselves so seriously.

The seventh page features a duo of embarrassed women who don't really want to be around the aggressive and overly macho rooster in a very serious theatre setting. In reality, the rooster's intentions are pure and he is only trying to get them to laugh.

In the eighth page, the rooster finally understands why the humans are so dramatic. It is fun to scare the people and he takes amusement in their fear.

Homework 1- "The Arrival"

Through the medium of wordless graphic narrative, an experience is meticulously created for an audience with the combination of stark, visually intriguing imagery and a compelling narrative that centers around a universal emotion or experience. Unique to this type of art, wordless narrative imagery encourages its reader to engage in each panel as if they were experiencing the situation themselves while potentially providing an experience that could never be achieved in reality.

Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” captures the familiarity and comfort of family and juxtaposes this with the terrifying and ultimately potentially dangerous reality of straying from comfort for the sake of opportunity. Family and comfort are conveyed through structure and order throughout the piece, shown through the square picture frame, plain black suitcase, carefully folded origami, and neat clean apartments. In contrast to the safe symbols of comfort, the new land is chaotic and bizarre with creatures, letters, and machines that although appear otherworldly and magical, yet still appear as a threat to the main character. Animals scream and lunge, engines spew fire, and even the glowing lights whisk away his hat. The surrealist imagery littered throughout the new country invokes a sense of confusion and displacement universal to any person from any culture; an emotion that speaks to any reader in a new or unfamiliar place.

However, a new sense of comfort is found by this man in this new location; through the compassion and experiences that are given to him by other people. The powerful imagery clearly and effectively communicates the past struggles that these new people describe and help the man adjust to his new lifestyle knowing that he is not alone. By the end of the story comparatively to the beginning, the man’s living space is no longer structured and ordered, but now blended with his new experiences shown through the same items yet slightly altered; a more organically shaped origami, strangely shaped machines, and new food. “The Arrival” is a powerful and effective story that utilizes its medium to full extent, communicating a story that resonates with audiences through time and cultures.